Former TV personality is sent to rehab

Sheila Martines Pina will remain in the Bristol County House of Corrections after a district court judge found her in violation of her probation on drunken driving-related charges.

Her stay will continue until a spot can be found in an in-patient hospital as Martines Pina continues to battle alcoholism. Judge William Riley said Martines Pina will stay in such a facility for no less than six months.

“Frankly it doesn't matter to me if you're a millionaire or a pauper because alcohol doesn't care,” Riley said.

Martines Pina, 50, the wife of former Bristol County District Attorney Ronald Pina, appeared in court Monday afternoon after violating her probation for a failure to report. She returned to the House of Corrections Nov. 16 after being released on Oct. 23 and serving 150 days of a 180-day sentence related to two separate 2006 charges of operating under the influence of alcohol.

She will also be required to appear in court again Thursday for sentencing on a third drunken driving offense that occurred in 2007.

Riley noted during Monday's hearing that Martines Pina's “record is brief but riddled with similar offenses.”

Along with being entered into a treatment facility, Riley also enrolled Martines Pina in a weekly Drug Court, where she will appear before either himself or Judge Bernadette Sabra each Thursday.

“We've seen good people do good work, and the court's fondest wish is that you do it,” Riley said.

Upon her release from the in-patient program, Martines Pina will continue to be required to submit to drug and alcohol testing and will have to enter an out-patient program. She will also be electronically monitored and restricted to home confinement from 3 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Riley said the six-hour daily time frame will afford Martines Pina time to attend meetings, counseling, meet with her probation officer and conduct routine business needed for an adult life.

“This is an automatic method to make sure you take good care of yourself,” Riley said.

Riley said her probation will continue until June 18, 2010.

Martines Pina had been jailed since May 29 when she was arrested in New Bedford on charges of possession of an open container and operating under the influence of alcohol after an officer found her slow to respond while she sat in her car at a E. Rodney French Boulevard boat ramp.

A day after that arrest, New Bedford District Court Judge John M. Julien revoked Martines Pina's bail in regards to two arrests in 2006, in which she was accused of drinking and driving.

In both of those instances she was charged by New Bedford police after she allegedly crashed into other vehicles while intoxicated. She was charged both times after being taken to a hospital.

Martines Pina was then sentenced June 18 by Julien to 21/2 years in the Bristol County House of Corrections. She was only required to serve at least five months of that sentence with the remaining two years suspended. She was also ordered to pay $1,050 in fines and fees, and was placed on probation for three years.

Following the two 2006 arrests, Martines Pina was removed from her position with the Southeastern Massachusetts Convention and Visitors Bureau in January but landed back on her feet a few weeks later when she was appointed to a non-paying position on the board of Tourism Massachusetts, a nonprofit agency with a $5 million budget funded by state revenues to promote international tourism. That group has since disbanded after funding was cut by the state in favor of having the state's official tourism agency handling international tourism.

Prior to the three most recent instances, Martines Pina had already been convicted twice of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

The first instance came in 1989 and she was ordered to attend an alcohol education and rehabilitation class. She also had her license suspended. Then in 1997, following the second conviction, she was ordered to wear an ankle bracelet that served as an electronic monitoring device.

In a separate incident, Martines Pina was found in the trunk of her Mercedes on a side road in Dighton in 1988. She claimed she had been abducted and beaten after stopping at an Interstate 195 rest stop. She claimed her alleged attacker drove the vehicle to Dighton and left her inside the trunk, but no arrests were made and police reports remain sealed.

Later that year, she resigned her position as Matt Lauer's co-host on WJAR-Channel 10's “PM Magazine.”

Four years later in November 2002, Martines Pina disappeared for six days before checking herself into Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.